The 2010 Bob Caples Memorial 3-wall Tournament bettered the tournament “rain or roast” tradition by being a “rain and roast” weekend.  Heavy rains forced Saturday’s matches inside until mid-afternoon.  Luckily, the courts were dry for the rest of the matches. But the heat and humidity had everyone sweating, even the spectators.  And, more storms Saturday night knocked down the tent and turned the grounds into a muddy swamp. 

Most of the prize money is now in Chicago, after Bill Mehilos and Marco Lemus teamed up to beat Carl Huether and Scott Walker in Open Doubles. The Chicago team then played each other for the Open Singles prize, with Mehilos coming out on top. The complete draw with scores, results and photos are posted now.  With players from Missouri, Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky, Indianapolis and all places Ohio, the Caples tournament continues to grow in numbers and quality of the competition.  The addition of a fourth court for next year will allow continued growth. 

This year saw the unveiling of a new award, The Handball Ironman, a “travelling” trophy given to the Caples player involved in the most games during the tournament. This year’s award goes to Sean Conneely, who played two divisions and reached the finals in both, with no byes. (Mehilos and Lemus tied Sean in the number of matches played, but Sean has a few years on these younger guys, which broke the tie.) Sean gets to keep the cup for a year, but is obligated to bring it back with him next year, when it will be up for grabs again. (Thanks to Greg Fite for the Ironman concept and hardware.)

B-Singles finalist and GCHA member, Roger Knudson, announced that he’ll soon be retiring to Austin, TX and will surely miss all his friends and fellow handball players in the Midwest. Roger’s retiring from his long time position at Miami University. He’ll be missed, and we hope he’ll make it a point to visit Cincinnati for our tournaments.  Congratulations, Roger; enjoy retirement in Austin.

The GCHA wishes to thank our tournament sponsors: Beacon Orthopedic, Cincinnati Restoration Church, The Rosselot Financial Group, and Corinthians 15; 1-4. Without their generous support, this tournament would not be possible. Thanks to Tournament Director Bob Bardeau for pulling it all together, to Paul and Beth Baker and the entire Athletic Club @ Waycross staff for short-notice accommodations, to Tom Liguzinski for the tent, to George Fisher of Cavalier Distributing, who donated the beer, and to the many workers who took care of food, refreshments, fruit, Gatorade, shirts, etc.